Yahoo Autos BMW and Porsche Have Jointly Developed Three-Minute Electric-Car Charging
BMW and Porsche have co-developed a charging station, currently being operated as an experimental station in Germany, which they say can feed up to 62 miles of electric driving range in less than three minutes.
Only these two automakers can plug in so far at the experimental station in Bavaria, which is operated in partnership with German electronics suppliers Siemens and Phoenix Contact and the Dutch charging network Allego. At 450 kW, the new station claims to send an extra 100 kW of juice to a thirsty electric car compared to Porsche’s first-gen station, announced just months ago. This Bavarian station takes a big draw (489 amps) and very high current (920 volts) at its theoretical maximum, which exceeds even the 800-volt architecture in the upcoming Porsche Taycan. While it still uses the Combined Charging System (CCS) plug for compatibility with slower-charging cars (which is an SAE-approved connector that accepts Level 1, 2, and 3 charging), a 489-amp circuit could potentially erupt into flames. To that end, the companies fitted a liquid-cooling jacket filled with water and glycol (essentially, your everyday automotive coolant) that incorporates what BMW calls "integrated tension relief." In other words, squeezing this fat cable won’t do anything to harm your car.
To put this kind of charge into perspective, most battery-electric and plug-in-hybrid cars have onboard chargers that can accept only a small fraction of the Bavarian station’s output, at around three to eight kilowatts when connected to AC. That’s why they take so long to recharge. On DC, the CHAdeMO standard favored by Japanese automakers can take up to 50 kW, while the SAE-approved CCS steps up even higher. Tesla vehicles connected to that company’s Supercharger station can accept up to 120 kW running at roughly half the voltage. In most instances on a Tesla Supercharger or similar DC connection, it takes at least 30 minutes for an electric car to reach an 80 percent battery charge from almost zero. Filling up can take a full hour, depending on the electrical load shared with other vehicles at the station and the car’s allowable battery capacity.
Tesla has said it is developing a higher-capacity station. CEO Elon Musk had already denounced Porsche’s initial 350-kW station by claiming it would degrade an electric car’s battery pack for the sake of a quicker charge. Porsche responds that it is not worried. That company has already instructed 189 U.S. dealers to install these chargers onsite. The 450-kW chargers, as illustrious as they sound, have yet to be approved. BMW does not have a similar plan at this time.
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